In the Apostles’ Footsteps – Part 4 – with Brad Jersak from Hierapolis to Laodicea

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Follow Dr. Bradley Jersak, PTM’s pastoral scholar, as he walks the ancient streets of biblical cities across Türkiye and Greece—sites where Christ’s apostles once trod. Knowing that Paul the apostle or John the beloved disciple traversed those same stones is a profound experience that brings the words of Scripture to life. In this series, Brad offers reflections on key locations he visited with students and friends of St. Stephen’s University. 

Hierapolis Hot Springs:

In this installment of following the Apostles’ footsteps, we’re still in Turkey beginning with a beautiful sunrise balloon ride over the healing hot springs of Hierapolis and a day tour of Laodicea.

Hierapolis (literally, “the Sacred City”) may not be familiar to our readers since we have no New Testament epistle addressed to them. But Paul knew them well and mentions their connections in his Epistle to the Colossians, where he says,

^4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. ¹³ I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. ¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

Colossae (from our last trip report), Laodicea and Hierapolis form a group of tri-cities in the valley you can see from my balloon in the above photo. You’ll also note what looks like snow at the bottom of the picture, but those are actually calcite deposits from their thermal hot springs, pools famous for their therapeutic properties. I assure you that my dip in those waters left me looking ten years younger!

I was also deeply touched by some of the extra-biblical apostolic history that occurred there. I learned that Barnabas and Philip were crucified there, and archaeologists have discovered Philip’s empty tomb. The story goes like this:

Philip and Bartholomew were preaching in Hierapolis, and their prayers were attributed to the death of a large serpent in a temple devoted to serpent worship. Philip allegedly also healed a lot of people of snake bites. This angered the city governor and their pagan priest, so they had Philip and Bartholomew crucified. Mid-crucifixion, an earthquake knocked everyone to the ground. Depending on who tells the story, Philip either prays for their safety or continues preaching from his cross. When the earthquake subsided, the crowd demanded the release of Philip and Bartholomew. Bartholomew survived, but Philip died.

I’m frequently amazed when Christians demonstrate complete credulity and literalism with biblical stories but become utter skeptics when the apostolic tradition isn’t confirmed by chapter and verse. That’s just not “best practice”… but I digress.

Downstream to Laodicea:

From Hierapolis, we could gaze downhill and six miles across the valley to the ruins of Laodicea. The Romans had created an incredible aqueduct down to Laodicea where, by then, the water would be (you guessed it) neither hot [like in Hierapolis] nor cold [like in Colossae] but lukewarm. I think we need to review Jesus’ words to Laodicea toward the end of Revelation 3.

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

I’m glad that Jesus followed his revulsion at their material hubris and spiritual pride with his motivation: Love for this wayward flock and a heart to restore them from the brink through what seems like biting correction.

I’ll let readers do their own research about the material wealth, textile market, and famous salve industry in Laodicea that Jesus pulls in as metaphors for their failings (they’re easy to find online). But for my part, I’d like to share a few other thoughts and photos.

The following photo is the ruins of the church in Laodicea. It is certainly ancient, but was only built after the apostolic era. As you’ll recall from Colossians now, the first gatherings met in a home. But this large and formerly beautiful structure is a testimony that the Laodicean church continued after Jesus’ warning, which tells me they may have taken his words to heart and repented.

This first photo is looking forward to the altar area of the church (sort of a Christian version of the Holy of Holies), with benches in the back on which the elders sat. That’s my friend, Peri Zahnd standing on the right…

In the next photo (below), we see the baptismal pool, a fairly common stone design, constructed as a cross-shaped tomb into which the baptized descend to “die with Christ,” and be “raised with Christ” to new life (see Romans 6 for more on that).

In this final photo, we see poppies in the foreground, signifying the city’s eventual destruction. Like Colossae, the city suffered many earthquakes and rebuilds (27 BC, 17 AD, 47 AD, and 60 AD)… but a huge earthquake around the end of the 3rd century was the final straw, and the city was abandoned.

The Canons of Laodicea:

Prior to that final earthquake, in the mid-300s AD, a synod (mini-church council) was held in Laodicea to address some false teachings and respond to questions about church practice. Out of that conference emerged sixty rules or edicts (aka “canons”). You can read them at the ruins or online HERE.

I’ll just note a few highlights, with help from my travel mates Marc Schelske and Jeff and Kristi Mears, whose full trip overview is viewable HERE:

1. A note of grace: the first canon makes a good start, assuring people who have been divorced and remarried that they are welcome and can receive communion. They only ask that they spend a bit of time in prayer and fasting to reflect… mindful of what had gone wrong previously and how the new marriage might last and be redemptive. Pretty reasonable.
2. A note of caution: the third canon warns against rushing newly baptized converts into leadership positions. Better to watch them mature in Christlike character prior to giving them responsibility to shepherd a congregation.
3. A sour note: canon 11 is notoriously hard to interpret. “Presbytides, as they are called, or female presidents, are not to be appointed in the Church.” The synod seems to restrict women from some manner of ordained service in the church, probably any position that had previously allowed them to enter the altar area. In other words, this seems to be a new rule… especially ironic in that the only known and named faith leader in Laodicia hosting a gathering was a woman (Paul’s friend Nympha).
4. Who wears what? Just a lot of silly rules about what rank you had to be in the hierarchy to wear special religious accessories. A whole lot of eye-rolling ensues.
5. A list of the books they had approved for inclusion in the New Testament. Here they are; what do you notice?And these are the books of the New Testament: four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; The Acts of the Apostles; seven Catholic Epistles, to wit, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; fourteen Epistles of Paul, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon.Did you notice a missing book?
   Yes, Revelation is missing.
   Why do you think Revelation is missing from a synod held in Laodicea?

Here’s a hypothetical narrative for you… maybe after 250-300 years, if you’re a Christian in Laodicea, you’re tired of hearing the “spew” verses used on you, whether by churches from neighboring cities or by fire-breathing pastors, teachers, and wandering prophets.

But also, it may be interesting that a church that had been accused of being lukewarm hosts a council where the response to lukewarmness is NOT recovering their “first love” (as in Jesus’ message to the Ephesians) but multiplying rule upon religious rule, marked by pomp, scrupulosity, exclusion, hierarchy, and patriarchy?

I’d like to use that as my own takeaway lesson: when my faith becomes shallow or complacent, the solution is a return to the “purity and simplicity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3) and not to a longer, stricter, moralistic code of Christian rules. That’s neither “hot nor cold.” It’s just toxic. Better to stick with Jesus… just ask the Laodiceans.

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